You're right. I should've distinguished between immigrants and refugees, and backed it up with data.
Most migrants from Central/South America will already be somewhat familiar with US culture due to geographic proximity, and often will have family and friends here who can help assimilate/absorb them into both local/municipal cultures and the broader US political landscape.
Refugees and asylees don't necessarily have that, especially if they are coming from a non-democratic and non-Western culture.
I would love to see data on this.